Inanimate
by Schinney
Summary: Ron in super self-conscious, and is bullied in school, until Cedric Diggory saves him with a little help from Snape! Cedric/Ron, Snape/Kingsley, Lupin/Malfoy CAT-RON!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

One gray warm August evening when the weather was mild, Ron Weasley toured Diagon Alley's trash filled streets. Having recently returned from a holiday in Finland where he visited his brother Charlie and helped with dragons, he was glad to be back in England. He had a soft rosy face and long red hair, a fox's colour, like his family, because of genetics. Even though he was a wizard and could change his hair to not ginger, he kept it like a red sunset because he loved his family. He was going to get new robes for school, because even though his family were poor, he needed new robes for school.

The robemaker said to Ron, "You _have_ very delicate features."

Ron blushed and looked away with his wide shy blue eyes.

"_I d_on't even know you, but I think you look like a baby angel." Ron was really embarrassed and was thinking of leaving when he heard a big laugh. He looked around to see who was laughing and saw Cedric Diggory, a very pretty boy with curled brown hair, a rosebud mouth, and big grey eyes. He was the year ahead of Ron at Hogwarts, and Ron was really discomfited that he had heard the robemaker. She laughed because Ron was really red and it was very funny for everyone except Ron. Ron got angry and left in a hurry, and decided to get robes somewhere else!

"That robesmaker is a creep!" Ron thought to himself, his pale blue eyes watering with emotion as he remembered all that he had said. Now Cedric would think he was weird. Cedric ran out the door after Ron and called out to him, "Come back and buy robes, I am sorry I laughed at you!" He had caught up with Ron and grabbed his arm. Ron pulled away his arm and said "I don't need your pity, I _know_ I'm ugly, you don't need to mock me, I'm not a _Peppermint Boy_ anymore." Ron ran away too fast to see the surprise and regret and emotional pain in Cedric's handsome dishevelled face. He was also running too fast to see Snape coming around the corner. Snape had been in the butchers buying meat for a party he was having with some old friends he knew from the Caribbean.

"Get up you idiot! Oh, the poor sausages – all squashed as flat as pancakes!" Ron tried to press the little sausages back into their ordinary shape again. They were broken. Snape was very angry, and shook with rage. Ron gave him back the sausages that were now all flattened but still delicious probably. "Kingsley will probably still enjoy them," Ron joked feebly, even though they both knew he wouldn't. Snape paled as he put the packet of sausages into his pants pocket. All was not well.

"I saw you run away from Cedric, why were you fighting? There will be no fighting in school this year. We've had terrible problems with bullies last year, and there will be no bullying this year." Ron nodded, because he knew the teachers had been annoyed at the bullying last year, and wanted no bullying this year. Last year lots of people were bullied by the year that had just left the school and everyone was afraid other people would now start bullying. The worst bully this year was Draco Malfoy but last year the worst bully was Tom Riddle who everyone hated. He had been really mean to most kids, and even some teachers. Kingsley had eventually kicked him out of Hogwarts and everyone was really happy. So Ron understood that Snape didn't want to see him fight with Diggory.

"We weren't _fighting_, he just...he just..." Ron couldn't say anymore because he was crying now. Snapes' face filled with understanding and pity because he knew then how much Ron cared about Cedric, Ron just didn't know it yet.

"Well, just don't let me see you fighting anymore." Snape walked off with Lupin, who gently comforted him as they walked along because he knew his friend was upset that the dinner was now ruined. Lupin looked back at Ron, to see that he was okay now, because he knew him well even outside school, because he was friends with Ron's parents, and like a father to Harry once Sirius was dead.

Ron walked sadly back to the dressmaker because he remembered that he had left all his stuff there. He wished that Cedric wouldn't still be there when he got back, although he _secretly_ wished he would be.


	2. Chapter 2

Cedric took time out of school to work on his painting career, and now was now back at school in the same year as his new crush Ron Weasley. He was so excited about being back at school now because they might have class together and get to talk and be around each other. He wished he could be sorted into Griffidor now but that wasn't what happened because he was a Hufflepuff. But because he was older and should have been finished with school, and now he was Head Boy, he got his won room and could live by himself on his own. His really liked his room, which was still decorated in Hufflepuff colours – yellow and black – as well as some of his own paintings. They were mostly pictures of cats – Cedric knew it was weird, but he always really liked cats, and found them interesting in the graceful way they moved and hunted, and he really liked watching them do that in the moving pictures he had created.

He left his room, and walked into his next class which had Ron in it, and went to sit next to him, but Harry Potter was in that seat. It was potions class, and Ron and Harry hated potions class, but suddenly had to do it for their Newts because it was needed for Auror careers. Cedric liked potions because he liked Snape – well, he liked everyone, even Kingsley. That's why he was a good painter, because he liked everyone and could see everyone as beautiful, even Snape and Ron, even though Ron was ginger and lots of people didn't like that. Cedric liked ginger people because they were different, and he didnt' believe the rumours about them turning into vampires when they died, even though Kingsley told everyone that that was true, and so Ron was bullied all the time, because everyone except Cedric and Harry feared him.

"Hello, Harry and Ron, how are you? Do you like potions, I like potions." Cedric smiled and was happy when they looked at him and smiled too. Ron had a beautiful smile, but it was a sad smile, because even now, he was afraid people would bully him because of the vampire things.

"We do not like potions, because we hate Snape." Harry laughed, glad that Cedric wanted to talk to them both, because Cedric was popular and the Head Boy, and if he was friends with Ron, maybe Ron could be friends with everyone again. And then Harry could go out with Cho Chang again, because she wouldn't not want to be seen with them.

Cedric laughed with him then winked at Ron. "I like your new robes Ron, you look really nice." Then Lupin walked in with Snape, and they all sat down to hear the announcement.

"We have decided that there will be a potions competition. Everyone needs to pair up and whoever wins gets no homework. You have to make a Felineus Catious Potion which turns people into cats. Lupin will test them because he is immune because he is a werewolf but he can taste the winner. "

Everyone paired up. Ron blushed like a red sunset because Cedric asked him to pair with him, and Harry laughed and went off with Cho instead, and Ron had to pair up with Cedric. Hermione paired up with Draco because they were engaged. Draco had become much nicer to everyone this year, because now that Lupin was dating his dad, he was forced to be nice to everyone. Also, he was able to get over his mom dying now that he had Lupin and Hermione to talk to and help him. And so he was not angry all the time, and everyone felt sorry for him anyway, and was trying to be nice to him. So now he was not a bully, and Ron felt much safer at school because he didn't have to worry that Draco would bully him.

Then they started making the potion. They worked well together, with Ron cutting up all the ingredients, and Cedric taking them and stirring them into the metal cauldron. The potion bubbled up and smelled really strange, but that was just how it was meant to smell, and it smelt like cats. When it was ready, it turned really red and purred like a cat, and they knew it was done. Cedric went to pour it into a glass vial, and Ron helped him. The potion splashed up and hit Ron, and he yelled a bit, because it was hot. Cedric laughed at him, and he looked embarrassed and wiped his hand on his pants. Then Lupin came and tried it, and was very happy with it, and said it was good. But they didn't win yet because they were one of the first finished and other people like Blaise and Lavender were still working on the potion. Ron bit his nails because he was nervous about winning, and suddenly he felt strange.

He tried to ask for help, but started meowing instead, and looked scared. Cedric looked at him surprised and Lupin came over. Ron started to shrink really fast, and fell out of his clothes. Instead of Ron, there was a cat!

"Oh no! The potion was on your nails, Ron!" The little cat meowed and looked sad. Snape came over looking angry, to see what had happened. Everyone was staring at the little ginger cat, that Cedric picked up in his arms. Lupin said:

"Take him to Mrs Pomfrey, she can give him the anti-dote."

"No!" cried Snape. "The potion can wear off itself, and anyway, they might have made the potion wrong, and giving the anti-dote will make it worse."

Cedric looked at the little cat, who seemed even more dismayed, and rubbed its little head. "I'll take care of him til the potion wears off – I like cats."

Snape managed not to smile, because that was his secret plan, since he knew how much Ron liked Cedric, and wanted him to have a new friend, and not be bullied anymore.

Lupin winked knowingly at Snape, seeing his plan. "That should be fine, I think – Headmaster Dumbledore won't mind you taking the rest of the day off class to mind him. Since he's a cat now, you have to make sure he doesn't escape – he might get lost, or hurt, because he doesn't think like Ron anymore."

Cedric nodded, and took the small ginger cat back to his room, glad he had a room of his own, so the cat wouldn't have to worry about people walking on him. He put him on his bed, and got him a warm blanket.

"There you are kitty, you are nice and safe here. I will look after you". The little cat started purring as Cedric rubbed his hair, and fell asleep in the other boys bed.


End file.
